Weather

Overcast, grey. Up into the mountains. Wet, torrential. Back again.
 
At 4pm J-L and I set off north through the forested slopes of the Prealps. The rain thinned and a watery sun illuminated the turning leaves, russet and green against limestone faces too steep for trees to grow.

It turned out he was tired. It turned out I was insured to drive his huge hulk of a car. After a very brief test drive in a service station car park, i.e. from where we were parked to the slip road, I headed out onto the motorway. The rain came, throwing up thick spray, and withdrew again. Around 6pm the sun emerged and an eerie mist started rising from the trees, forming yet another layer against the deep rain-grey clouds in the distance, the pale fluffy ones nearby and those turning gold in between. For a while the circle of the sun was covered by several translucent shifting layers, like a chaotic eclipse. Then fire exploded on the horizon and if I hadn’t known where we were going I’d have sworn there was a vast active volcano ahead. Then a row of small ones.
 
It was too magical for photographs, even if I hadn’t been driving and even if my camera could have coped. A light show for the gods. By the time we stopped there was nothing left but this.